How great is your business idea from a CENTS perspective? Find out instantly...

[MJ DeMarco]

Introducing -- Grade My Business Idea -- a website tool that will instantly grade and rate your business ideas in accordance to a weighted CENTS Framework whereas NEED and SCALE is most important, plus a MARKET ACCESS variable. (If you can't reach a market with a message, do you have a market??)

Grade My Business Idea: Business Ideas and Opportunities Rated Fast

I thought it was about time I created a grading tool with properly weighted metrics to determine the value of potential business ideas. Now anytime someone at the forum comes forward with an idea, I (we) can easily use this tool for dynamic grading. The tool specifies strengths, weaknesses, and puts the idea in perspective of the execution multiplier scale which I detailed at the end of The Millionaire Fastlane .

Just a few examples recently in the last few weeks here...

THE UPSCALE INVENTION

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: UPSCALE (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

THE BROCHURE HOLDER INVENTION

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: Brochure Holder and Binder (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY / SEO SERVICES (Common "foot in the pool" business around here)

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: Digital Marketing/Design Agency (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

THE DIALYSIS TRANSPORT IDEA

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: Transport Service for Dialysis Patients (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

So moving forward, ANYONE can have their ideas rated and graded according to my CENTS Framework, and they don't need to ask me personally! It's all there for you to review, assuming you're honest with your answers.

The tool has only been up for a few days and still have a few tweaks left, but for the most part, it should work.

Enjoy!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I don't understand how to interpret the 1-10 scales for a number of the items

If I think about normal startup businesses, my new business is pretty difficult to start, so somewhere between 8 and 10. If I compare it to SpaceX, my little idea is about a 2. Someone with $1,000,000 and a bit of knowledge could hire some people and do this same thing.

You're overthinking it.

How difficult is it to start for the AVERAGE PERSON? This is a small business tool for an entrepreneur who wishes to start a small to mid-sized business, it's not a tool for Elon Musk to determine his next business venture.

With that said, I don't know your business. But if you gave your business idea to say, your best friend, or gave it to any random guy walking down the street, how difficult would it be for him to start? Will he need a degree in computer science and $100K? Or does he just need to contact some dude on Alibaba and wham, he's in business?

 

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[broswoodwork]

I'm getting way too distracted by this.

Sadly, my Bearded Lizard Apparel Co was only a D+

 

[Scot]

DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY / SEO SERVICES (Common "foot in the pool" business around here)
What does the sentence in the parentheses mean? Dmn, this made me uncomfortable to read....Seemed like a great market to be in. This seriously made me doubt my decision now.. But nevertheless, what a good thing still!

10 years ago everyone was a “paid blogger”.

5 years ago everyone was “developing an SaaS company”

Now, everyone who has a rudimentary understanding of Facebook and AdWords is “starting a digital marketing agency”

The market is so over saturated it’s not even funny. Do you know how many crappy boiler plate emails I get offering to do a digital advertising audit on my business go into trash (or never get seen in my spam folder)? Hundreds.

It’s impossible you be unique in this space.

If this is something you’re considering, you either better have a great case study where you got some client 10x ROAS or look at just applying your digital marketing experience to selling your own brand.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

You can literally run off with the A+ business ideas- pick those you like and execute a hundred times better than someone who has a great idea but probably isn't going to follow up on this.

I don't want to be cynical, but you might want to be pretty open about that upfront and put it into a disclaimer.

You make a VALID point, don't apologize. One shouldn't need to review all the questions FIRST before deciding if they should trust the website.

I've added a disclaimer.

 

[Kusneak]

Now we just need another tool to find business ideas

 

[biophase]

It’s interesting to me how people
perceive their own businesses. I got a C- and $500,000. I’ve already made that with mine.

But then I see others getting B’s and A’s.

I go tweak the parameters as generous as I can and still get a B-.

Lol

 

[Scot]

Cant argue over spam mails...got into amazon and the flood came.
Oh damn, I actualy am considering it very deeply. So it is basically a long-shot?
Thanks for the reply

I have 6 competitors in my entire market in the US, only 1 I take seriously.

You probably have 5,000+ competitors.

Which market is easier to stand out in?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Nice, I'm sure it's a little easier than that grading spreadsheet I made, will have to play around with it!

Your spreadsheet is what gave me the idea to put something together that could be easily used and accessible ... something that will last through the ages, lol.

 

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[Scot]

Pretty spot on with my own analysis of my business.

Time separation is my biggest problem, but I also play in a very traditional market where I’m going to need to build a large company that will require hands on leadership and work.

Awesome tool @MJ DeMarco !

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Over 700 ideas graded now.

Appreciate any upvotes!

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com - Product Information, Latest Updates, and Reviews 2024 | Product Hunt

Think you have a great business idea? Is your business idea worth pursuing? Can it make you a fortune? Support a family? Or is it a waste of time? Get your business idea rated fast & free. Based on the C.E.N.T.S. Framework™ authored by entrepreneur MJ DeMarco

www.producthunt.com

 

[Tiger TT]

The tool evaluated my current business almost exactly right.

The recommendations in the weaknesses section told me what to do in order to reach the full potential.

Great tool. Thanks MJ.

 

[amp0193]

6 in the US? What on earth are you doing.

About the same for me.

Me and @Scot are doing things that haven't been done before.

 

[JunkBoxJoey_JBJ]

Could be your "third" greatest website...ever!

 

[Bekit]

Ah! Thank you for bumping this thread! I had been looking for this tool and couldn't remember what it was called.

Now, come to find out, it's also been in the footer all this time. LOL.

I got a "B" on my current project that I'm building.

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: My Business Idea (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

This part blows my mind:



So wait, even with poor execution, I might make $150,000? Sa-weet! I can do better than that.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

What In saying is in an obtuse way if you want to make money avoid buildings, employees, capital and stick to the internet highway that you preach about Thanks

It really depends on what the long-term goal is. In some respects this strategy works for entrepreneurs who want to remain self-sufficient and mobile. If one has bigger goals, its kinda hard to do it without employees. Also, the internet is not the only way to go Fastlane and make millions, the best opps I see are offline, brick and mortar, with the internet used as a scaling / marketing tool.

 

[Scot]

6 in the US? What on earth are you doing.
Well, in my country there are about 80 digital marketing agencies.

Get an INSIDERS sub to the forum and you can read all 17 pages about it.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Do you still believe that opportunities shouldn’t be overlooked due to a poor Scale score?

Depends on the person. If you have no experience at all, any business idea will work.

There was a section that estimated the lifetime profitability of this business at $25,000, but we are in an industry where the profit on a single sale is in the 6-7 figure range.

I supposed I should change the verbiage -- remember, scale can be scale (numbers) or magnitude (big ticket sizes). In that case, you would adjust the scale rating upward to reflect the LARGE ticket item.

I was wondering if you've checked the ideas that you've made a profit with using this system and how well they performed on the algorithm compared to the real-life?

It was spot on. Obviously it won't be entirely accurate for every idea, but it should be able to ball-park it pretty good. If not, I tweak it.

 

[MTF]

Nicely done. I like the clear explanations behind the 1-10 scale as it makes it super easy to grade your idea in a few minutes.

I got D- for my self-publishing business. Despite it, it still has generated for me well over the $250,000 mentioned on the results page assuming excellent execution and I believe I gave truthful objective answers. However, I understand that this tool is just a handy way to test your idea against the framework that doesn't have to be 100% accurate all the time (and I actually agree with this rating given how much my business recently suffered because it's violating the commandment of control).

I find the explanation of the weaknesses pretty useful not only to assess a potential idea, but also to fix an existing business (@MJ DeMarco, there are some typos in the results which I put in bold):

Your need is lukewarm.
The need you've identified, or the relative value as compared to existing options is below average to weak. This really impacts the other variables negatively since NEED is the most important. If demand is weak, the scale metric is largely diminished.

In my case, its relative value as compared to existing options is weak because it's a very popular genre so people can choose from many similar books and mine aren't that different (only somewhat different so I graded them 4). The solution would be to identify a different genre where it would be easier to stand out, which is actually something I've been considering recently.

Weak entry barriers.
The resources needed to launch this business (time, skill, money) is pretty weak. While that might be good for you in the short-term financially, it's not good for the long term. With limited entry barriers to this business, you will likely find increasing competition over time to the point margins erode and profitability disappears. This makes the longevity of this entreprise questionable. Caution is advised.

Pretty hard to increase the barrier of entry unless I come up with different ways to sell my content that come with a higher barrier of entry than Amazon. Perhaps more specialized niches would also have a higher barrier of entry as not everyone would be able to write books in them.

Substantial third-party dependency issue.
You have a huge third-party dependency issue. In short, you don't have full control over your business because you are subservient on a parental, corporate parent. For instance, if you ONLY sell on AMAZON and you're entire business revenue comes from Amazon, this carries a HUGE third-party risk. If the third-party company decides to change something (a policy, a procedure, files bankruptcy, cancels your account) your business will immediately be impacted. Worse, it will go banktrupt in a matter of minutes. While such dependencies can go on infintely with no issue, it poses a HUGE risk that should have you concerned.

The biggest danger in this business and one that is extremely difficult to address. Still, I'm trying to find ways to reduce my dependency on Amazon and this assessment only made me realize how urgent this task is.

Limited to zero repeat use.
A big trouble spot here is that your product is a limited use product. This means that once you find your customer (either through expensive marketing or some other expense initiative) they are unlikely to buy again. Not because your product stinks, but because it just can be used once, like a book, a game, or a calculator. While this isn't the end of your idea, it is a facet that you must deal with by offering more options (For example, more books, more games, etc.) to continually leverage your customer list. Additionally, because your product is just a one-time (or two-time) deal, your marketing efforts will have to continually replace old customers with new ones. Build momentum will be a struggle.

My business addresses this through more books, but this strategy, at least in the genre I am, no longer seems to be working that well.

A recurring type of a product would be great, but to make a quality subscription-based product in this industry would be challenging and probably not that lucrative given how much work it might require. This leaves the idea of finding a new niche where I could not only write books but also potentially sell relevant products that generate recurring income and are an easier sell.

Thanks again for creating this tool, MJ. It really got me thinking about the direction I need to take with my business.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Also had to test the worst of the worst to see how it handles things.

Renting poo eh? Glad to see it rated it poorly.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

The tool evaluated my current business almost exactly right.

This is really eye opening its one thing to read your conceps in a book or on this forum but now going through all my Ideas and filling them in gives me such a beter understanding of what ideas are crap and which ones have potential!

Thanks, I tested many ideas on it and they all were pretty accurate. Of course, accuracy depends on the input variables. It even will detect and then reject garbage variables (I have a strong need 10 and 0 entry!).

 

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[MartijnS]

Awesome @MJ DeMarco , just tried it out!

Beyond getting the grading, just as importantly it makes you stop and think about these questions and how your idea look in that light.

 

[Bekit]

Introducing -- Grade My Business Idea -- a website tool that will instantly grade and rate your business ideas in accordance to a weighted CENTS Framework whereas NEED and SCALE is most important, plus a MARKET ACCESS variable. (If you can't reach a market with a message, do you have a market??)

Grade My Business Idea: Business Ideas and Opportunities Rated Fast

I thought it was about time I created a grading tool with properly weighted metrics to determine the value of potential business ideas. Now anytime someone at the forum comes forward with an idea, I (we) can easily use this tool for dynamic grading. The tool specifies strengths, weaknesses, and puts the idea in perspective of the execution multiplier scale which I detailed at the end of The Millionaire Fastlane .

Just a few examples recently in the last few weeks here...

THE UPSCALE INVENTION

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: UPSCALE (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

THE BROCHURE HOLDER INVENTION

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: Brochure Holder and Binder (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY / SEO SERVICES (Common "foot in the pool" business around here)

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: Digital Marketing/Design Agency (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

THE DIALYSIS TRANSPORT IDEA

GradeMyBusinessIdea.com: Transport Service for Dialysis Patients (Results)

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

So moving forward, ANYONE can have their ideas rated and graded according to my CENTS Framework, and they don't need to ask me personally! It's all there for you to review, assuming you're honest with your answers.

The tool has only been up for a few days and still have a few tweaks left, but for the most part, it should work.

Enjoy!

Love this!

I tried the tool on my employer's business and got a D-.

(Link to results)

However, it raised a question.

There was a section that estimated the lifetime profitability of this business at $25,000, but we are in an industry where the profit on a single sale is in the 6-7 figure range.

Maybe there could be a question that asks for some numbers?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I feel like the upscale parameters that you put in are way to generous when compared to mine. For example, scale for me is 75 and upscale was 65. I'm pretty sure that my market size is way bigger. So it's just a matter of figuring out what the difference of a unit on your 1-10 scale means.

definitely argue that my current business has alot more potential than upscale

We agree.

The need for Upscale (IMO) is not clearly defined as is its market. It was based upon best case scenarios that *assumed* people with small bathrooms would want it, AND it was priced appropriately. Variability and unknowns are across the board.

If I rated it based on my perceptions and biases, it would be in the D range. I rated on the owner's assertions.

Your business however, has NO unknowns insofar as market and demand.

a true A- business idea should be making millions in the first year.

That's simply not true because the idea itself is worthless, execution still needs to happen, especially because such a business would score HIGH on entry barriers. In a food business, that DEFINITELY is the case since it is dependent on third-party distribution with gatekeepers.

Maybe I'm just too pessimistic with my business

I don't think you're pessimistic at all, just a better executor than the rest. Heck, my business scored dismally, yet, it was pretty darn accurate. The truth of the matter is, if I wasn't already financially secure, it probably wouldn't be a business I'd be pursuing.

 

[Boyd]

I got D- for my self-publishing business.

I also ran self-publishing through the evaluator and got the same grade.

Obviously, control and entry are huge red flags but given your, and others, success I don't think it's a business that should be immediately discredited.

As awesome as this tool is, we need to be careful not to let CENTS be destructive to action.

Just because something isn't initially CENTS, doesn't mean you should ignore it.

Don't let CENTS stop you from striking out into the world and grabbing your first small win.

I guess the only true way to determine if self-publishing is worthwhile is put books on the market (action) and let the market determine if this business is viable. All the while keeping in mind that EE>E (executional excellence overcomes entry).

execute excellently or face mediocrity.

This is totally going on the wall above my computer.

 

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[Bekit]

if you want to make money avoid buildings, employees, capital and stick to the internet highway

Is this the truth, though?

Think about who has the most money. Did Musk, Bezos, Gates, etc. follow the above plan?

Before Robinhood got this "easy" 3B, what did they have to go through?

Buildings.

Employees.

Capital. (The recent $3B was more money than they had raised in their entire prior existence.)

I think you're forgetting about the commandment of Entry. Entry is precisely what you're talking about with Henry Ford and the factory. Not anyone can just start manufacturing cars. You have to go through a long, arduous process. That high barrier to entry is precisely what will protect you from other "me-too" competitors crowding into your space.

 

[SD Entrepreneur]

Your spreadsheet is what gave me the idea to put something together that could be easily used and accessible ... something that will last through the ages, lol.

Awesome, glad I helped inspire it! I might have to do an execution thread someday soon that starts with entering ideas on that site, narrowing down an idea and turning it into a viable revenue stream...

 

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[broswoodwork]

This will probably go viral on other parts of the interwebs, if it hasn't started to already. Probably a pain in the a$$, but what if the cents categories an idea scores poorly in come with a pre packaged fix-it diagnosis (recommended appropriate gold threads here)?

 

[Jon L]

I don't understand how to interpret the 1-10 scales for a number of the items ... what does a 10 mean on Entry, for example? I see the expandable description, which is helpful, but here's whats confusing me:

If I think about normal startup businesses, my new business is pretty difficult to start, so somewhere between 8 and 10. If I compare it to SpaceX, my little idea is about a 2. Someone with $1,000,000 and a bit of knowledge could hire some people and do this same thing.

When I compare my idea to hugely difficult to start companies, I get a B or B+. If I ignore them, its an A+, which doesn't quite seem reasonable.

 

[Jon L]

You're overthinking it.

How difficult is it to start for the AVERAGE PERSON? This is a small business tool for an entrepreneur who wishes to start a small to mid-sized business, it's not a tool for Elon Musk to determine his next business venture.

With that said, I don't know your business. But if you gave your business idea to say, your best friend, or gave it to any random guy walking down the street, how difficult would it be for him to start? Will he need a degree in computer science and $100K? Or does he just need to contact some dude on Alibaba and wham, he's in business?

Ahh. This makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

My idea is a Personal Trainer in an app. An actual real live human personal trainer that will analyze every workout performed by the client, offer feedback, encouragement... Live chats scheduled regularly with the client. Etc. Workouts will be recorded by the client via voice memo within the app, transcribed by our staff. All for $45/month selling price.

To me, if you're going to give this to an average person on the street, they're going to struggle. There's the app and the back end software to write, trainers and transcribers to hire, workout programs to develop, marketing to be done, etc. And it has to fit into that price at a margin that makes sense.

Maybe for people like me that like to overthink things, you could mention on your very excellent rating tool that the metric to use is 'for the average person on the street, how difficult is this, scale of 0-10'